Lions and Lambs
by Whiskey Bandit
Summary: Shepard leads the way, but what of the soldiers that used to fight along side her? This is the story of Haric Ward as he trains with and watches the growing star ascend to galactic fame.
1. Chapter 1

The Citadel  
Destiny Ascension Docking Bay  
January 4, 2183 20:47  
Lt. Haric Ward

_That damned ship is destroying everything, and those zealots are following it blindly. What had Shepard called the Geth's "god" when she tried to warn us...? Sovereign? A Reaper? Whatever that son of a bitch is, it's here and it's tearing us apart. The center of our galaxy is in flames right now and it didn't even try to send out a distress signal… They must have had a back door into the system; if they already have control of the Citadel then I don't think anyone can stop this now._

_Hell they even had an ambush waiting for the Council, that squad of Geth Primes really did a number on me… at least the Council got off the station… I sacrificed my left arm for them, probably even my life for those aristocrats… ah hell I never really used my left one anyways, if... if I survive this I'll make things right... Shit... I can't believe I'm probably going to die here, in this damn corner. I always thought I would die on some piss hole of a planet in the Terminus System, without anyone knowing my name or why my black ops team was even there, no glory or honor for this soldier… Instead I get to die on the Citadel while some unknown machine is destroying everything I know._

_Hmm curious… they all say when you die you see the faces of your dead loved ones or even those you've killed. Maybe it's because I'm swimming in medi-gel but all I can see now is that smug look on Jane's face when she is awarded the Medal of Valor for her saving of the Council. Oh hell I can see it now "Alliance Golden Girl, Commander Jane Shepard, Saves the Council and Citadel from Certain Destruction" posted on every extranet site. It'll go right to her head, always did. She always was the strongest out of us, just like back in at the academy..._

8 years earlier...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Earth  
The Villa  
February 21, 2175 18:00  
Lt. Haric Ward

"Recruit, RECRUIT! Are you listening to me!?" The annoyed drill instructor yelled at the blonde hair recruit next to Haric, everyone snapped to attention, only momentarily distracted by the sticky, humid Rio de Janeiro heat. On the flight over to the Interplanetary Combative Training academy, Haric over heard some of the others refer to it as "The Villa", which in his opinion made it sound much more pleasant of a place to be in than it really was. It was a beautiful view of the Brazilian landscape flying in, but the beauty hides the grueling training that goes on inside The Villa. Haric and a few others from all over the Alliance were handpicked to join the prestigious N-School.

"It is a great honor to be chosen for this training, but the truth is most of you will not be able to wear the fabled N7 patch on your uniform!" the buzzed-cut instructor continued to bark, "You will fail. This course is meant to weed out the weakest of you and leave only the strongest standing to lead!"

An older man with a scar on the right side of his face, wearing the blue and gold trimmed uniform of a member of the Alliance brass, walked to the center of the courtyard and began to address the soldiers in a voice that commands respect from decades of service, "I am Admiral Steven Hackett, and I have no doubt you all know why you are here. You are the best the Alliance military has to offer. However, this is the Interplanetary Combative Training Academy and this will be the most difficult training you will ever experience. We will break you down to your core and then the real training begins... We will forge you into the mightiest soldiers this galaxy has seen. You will be the tip of the Systems Alliance spear, the vanguard of all humanity and you will go where no one else can, to do things that no one else would have dreamed possible. The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little bit longer. And that is what we will train you to do, the impossible. Good luck and God speed." The Admiral's words hung in thick air as he walked away, leaving the troops at the mercy of Drill Instructor Hart.

Pacing back and forth Hart declared "We will assemble here at 0700, is that understood troops?"

A unified, "sir, yes sir" was heard from the soldiers.

Before dismissing them Hart added, "one last thing, there is beer and food in the mess hall. Celebrate, it's Carnival around here." With those parting words he dismissed them.

Everyone grabbed their gear and started to head for the mess hall to celebrate the accomplishment of making it this far at least. Haric decided to put his things in the barracks before heading off to the celebrations. While walking to the barracks he watched the soldiers, who had been here long before his shuttle arrived, practicing and sharping their deadly skills. He wondered why those troops were not going to the festival but quickly dismissed it. This celebration was obviously for the new recruits.

As the green eyed Haric rounded the final corner to the barracks, he caught a glimpse of fiery red hair and noticed that an attractive girl wearing a navy blue uniform was running into what looked to be the communications building and for a brief second thought of going after her. However, before he could even finish his thought the door closed and locked behind her. Curiosity almost got the better of him, until he remembered the celebration going on across the courtyard.

The young navy officer quickened his pace to the barracks and found his footlocker, which read "Ward". After depositing his belongings in the footlocker he looked around at the hard grey building that would be his home for the foreseeable future and sighed. "This should be fun." Without thinking he rushed to the mess hall to join the rest of the green recruits.

The music was blaring; it was some sort of Latin techno music. The celebrations were already in fully swing when he entered the hall so he decided to jump feet first into the festivities. None of them could resist the traditional food and drinks of Carnival but what really caught the men's eyes was the beautiful ebony hair swirling as the young Latin girls danced to the beat of the music. After Haric ingested some "liquid courage" he decided to go flirt with one of the dancers but before he could, a drunken marine slammed into him and spilled his drink all down the front of Haric's uniform. The marine was too drunk to even notice or care so instead of picking a fight on his first night in camp Haric thought it would be best to head back to the barracks for the night.

The walk back was uneventful, only the patrolling guards were out now. When he made it to the barracks, they were mostly empty. The light that shown in from the flood lights outside was the only illumination in the barracks, Haric felt at ease and relaxed in the darkness of the barracks. It was getting late and he knew that N-School was not going to be easy, so getting some sleep before tomorrow would be the best course of action. He climbed into the not very comfortable bunk and closed his eyes to thoughts of reading under the steel gray skies of London.

What felt like only seconds since drifting off to sleep a thunderous BOOM erupted and sirens all around the base started going off, jolting Haric. Before much could register in his sleep clouded mind of what was happening, the red haired woman was yanking him out of his bed and slamming him to the ground.

**A/N: here begins the story of my character. This story will mostly focus on the exploits of Haric, but will include Jane Shepard. This will story will help shed some light on the commander before she had to track down Saren and defeat the Reapers. A back story of Shepard seen through another person's eyes. I hope you enjoy, R&R.**

**~Ad Astra Per Aspera**


	2. Chapter 2

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Earth  
The Villa  
February 22, 2175 02:10  
Lt. Haric Ward

The cold floor was all Haric could feel as his face is smashed to the ground by the mysterious woman. The sound of sirens pierced the night and he could only read her lips as she mouthed the words "get up". With that they were off running, to where Haric did not know but the feminine hand around his wrist, dragging him along, seemed to know exactly where to go.

All around them was chaos, soldiers running around shouting orders over the alarms, trying to figure out what was going on. The turmoil subsided once the duo reached the hanger bay where multiple Alliance blue UT-47 Kodiaks were being boarded by armed squads.

"What's going on and who are you for that matter?" is all that Haric can think of saying.

Coldly she replied, "The base is under attack by rebel insurgents who don't exactly like what the Alliance has been doing with the colonies. And for the question "who I am", I'm an N4 who is in charge of your barracks. So listen close to what I have to say, your rank doesn't mean much here, only your N-rank carries weight. Now go find your name on the departure list, figure out which drop ship to get on and suit up." Before leaving the N4 looked Haric over and grinned, then bolted for a shuttle that was about to depart and took her seat.

The full weight of what was going on finally settled on Haric and he knew what he had to do so he found where all the other recruits were gathered around to find out where they were posted. Haric pushed is way to the front of the crowd only to see the drunken marine that slammed into him at the festival. The marine was still obviously drunk, which would make the next hours of his life pretty dreadful. After looking around he noticed that the marine was not the only one who was still inebriated but a handful of others were as well, one black haired recruit was even vomiting in the corner. The smell was terrible so Haric got his assignment and made a dash straight for his shuttle.

"Nice of you to finally show up, now we can get this going. Your armor and rifle are over there" as the olive skinned man pointed to one of the seats. Haric was the last one on the drop ship, and everyone else was already suited up. It was the traditional onyx armor with the red strip down the right arm. His weapon laid in its default folded position until Haric grabbed it, then his Volkov X unfolded and came to life. The sniper rifle was a dull grey with a few red stripes; it was simple but Rosenkov Materials knew how to make a reliable rifle.

Haric had barely gotten his armor on when the olive skinned man started to talk again, "I am Nathan Knolls, I am your CO for this op. There have been reports of insurgent activity in the forest surrounding the base we are to neutralize them. And god damn it I will not lose to her again. Now get to know each other."

A far too spunky green eyed girl started to talk first, "I am Natasha Green, I come from the Alliance Marines and I was part of Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training because I was one of the first humans to be born with biotic abilities and I am implanted with an L2 implant. I get frequent headaches, some say I get distracted very easily, but I just think about it as not being entertained by one thing for too long. Wait, is that what they mean by distracted? Anyways, I was born in the colonies and favor my pretty little shotgun, Betsy. And shooting things is fun, shooting things is very fun." After running her hand through her pixie cut blonde hair she raised up her M-22 Eviscerato shotgun, which looked almost as big as her when raised above her head with a grin ear to ear.

Knolls chimed in, "Well I did say get to know each other but if everyone was as long winded as that then we might get to our LZ before we are done."

With a nudge in the direction of Haric he spoke up, half smile always on his face, he started "I'm Haric Ward, I was born in London, I graduated top of my military academy class, and I am an infiltrator so I will be your eyes and ears. I will also get us through any tough tech while in the field; however, in the middle of the rainforest", a light laugh left his mouth; "I don't think picking locks will be very relevant."

A bulky older man, with the same shaved head as the other men on the shuttle started, "The name's Moore, and I'm a soldier. That's all I am."

"Short and sweet" Haric continued, "I like it."

The final addition to the team was a brown eyed medic, "Nice to meet you all, my name is Peter Adams. I'll be focusing on keeping this lot alive for as long as possible. My specialization is in human and alien physiology, which makes me a great asset to our team. I will also be caring the majority of the medi-gel while on the mission, although you all have at least one auto equipped to your Omni tool. And don't worry I'm not a half bad shot either, so you won't have to be looking out for me all the time."

The pilot flying the transport shouted into the back, "we are arriving at the LZ, but there is no room to land so I am gonna drop you in and you advance on foot." The shuttle door opens and the sound of wind passing and the roar of the engines drowned out all other noises. The team gets up, secures their helmets and as the shuttle slowed they jumped, one by one. Just as Haric was about to jump he saw the pilot mouth the words "Good luck this time."

The landing was hard and jarring but the kinetic barriers took most of the hit. The team was only scattered by about ten meters each. "All long range transmissions are to cease and only use short range coms, clear?" The team all responded to Knolls command, and turned off their long range communications.

Haric voiced what he knew everyone was thinking, "Sir, shouldn't we keep in contact with command and check in?"

"That's not how it works out here, rookie. We are at N-school, we have full operational command. We get the job done the best way we see fit."

Haric felt a surge of freedom and dread, "that just means if we fail, it is all on us."

"Exactly, so get yourselves ready. Green you take point, Moore and Adams center with me, and Ward you bring up the rear."

In the high pitched sad voice of Natasha, "Aw I wanted the rear, I landed on mine when we jumped and it hurt. Ohwell mine still looks better than yours, doesn't it Haric?" She faked blowing a kiss in his direction, "at least you'll get a better look from the back, boys." As Natasha moved towards the front she made a flirty laugh and started to hum, and Haric couldn't help but get distracted for a moment by her round ass and humming.

"That's enough! We are on a serious mission here, not some prom date. Now form up!" commanded Knolls.

A recent rain made the ground moist and green, and every step could be a slip. It was slow business moving meticulously through the damp rainforest, no one knowing their enemy or who to look for; their only mission, neutralize the insurgents. The morning sun was just about to rise when the team came across what seemed to be tracks in the mud. Knolls made a fist and raised it. Everyone stopped in their tracks, and went to a knee.

"There looks to be recent activity in this area hold up. Haric, cloak and recon ahead. We must tread carefully, our opponents are highly trained."

"Roger that." Haric activated his omni tool and just became a shimmer. His footsteps silent and steady as he advanced. Haric followed a small trail that led up a hill with massive trees atop it. "Knolls, there is a hilltop up here where we could have good visibility and target the ene-" Haric caught glimpse of the glare from a rifle scope, a flash of light, and a single bang rang out. Shouting came over the radio, "Adams is down! He's hit! Did anyone see where the shot came from? Haric get your ass back here now, we need to get the hell out of here!"


End file.
